Gossip: Ozil, Griezmann, Richarlison, Mascherano
OZIL TO ATLETICO
Hoo boy, now here’s a line. The Sun’s Senior Digital Sports Reporter (yeah, we went to the Twitter bio) Warren Haughton has an exclusive. It isn’t an exclusive that makes the newspaper despite being pretty punchy, but still.
Haughton claims that Atletico Madrid have made contact with Mesut Ozil about signing a deal to join them on a free next summer. Given the section immediately below this one, that would make some sense. The Sun say that Simeone is looking to offer Ozil a deal of around £200,000-a-week with a big old signing on fee.
Now, we’re not saying that The Sun rushed this story, but we did like these snippets of horrible English:
‘Ozil has so far not agreed to stay at the Emirates beyond next summer with the Gunners top brass keen to offload him in January for (a?) cut-price fee’
‘take advantage of the uncertaincy (sic)’
‘huge signing on (sic) fee as (a?) free agent at the end of the season’
‘And despite to (to?) crticism (sic), the playmaker has pitched in’
Give it a read, guys.
GRIEZMANN WANTS PSG
It will be sold as a snub to Manchester United, but Antoine Griezmann’s flirting with Old Trafford was never likely to progress to first base. The suspicion was that he would always end up at Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich.
And now PSG look like the strong favourites, after Griezmann told Telefoot that yes, it would be a dream to play for the best team in France. It’s hardly the most subtle message.
PSG are going to have to sell a lot of players for that deal to be possible. Does this mean Edinson Cavani will leave and Neymar play will centrally with Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe either side? If so, whit woo.
TOTTENHAM INTERESTED IN RICHARLISON
That’s the problem with instant success. We are three months into the new season, and Everton are eyeing Marco Silva as their next manager and Tottenham reportedly want Richarlison. Clubs like Watford need to be good, but not so good that their best individuals leave.
Having cost them £11.2m, Watford could certainly make a tidy profit on Richarlison, and the Brazilian would surely be keen on a move that ensured Champions League football.
It’s easy to feel a little deflated about a team being picked off before they have even really got going. Still, that’s life.
MASCHERANO BACK TO LIVERPOOL? NO.
Now we’re not saying that Football365 are leading the conversation, but in this week’s top ten we have demanded that Javier Mascherano moves back to the Premier League. By Tuesday morning, the Daily Mirror are doing a ‘Mascherano to Liverpool’ story. #Influencers.
Anyway, the bad news is that the Mirror story is some naughty guff, not even credited to a journalist on their website. The entire thing is based on this line:
‘Liverpool have been made 6/4 favourites to sign him by Sky Bet, although River Plate are another option for the 33-year-old.’
Given that Liverpool haven’t made a move and that Mascherano has been talking up a move to River Plate, we’ll call this a reasonable excuse to use the SEO-happy ‘liverpool-latest-transfer-news-mascherano’.
AND THE REST
Cardiff City are set to sign Venezuela defender Rolf Feltscher… Sunderland hope to have Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom installed as their new manager soon… West Brom have renewed their interest in Fenerbahce midfielder Josef de Souza… West Brom are also eyeing trabzonspor midfielder Okay Yokuslu… Scotland are ready to make Michael O’Neill a double-your-money offer… Watford have rejected Everton’s request to talk to Marco Silva.
